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Lew Sarett
by George J. Dance Lew R. Sarett (May 16, 1888 - August 17, 1954) was an American poet, academic, and lecturer.Lew Sarett - Laona's Resident Poet, Laona History, Web, Nov. 26, 2012. Life Sarett was born Lewis Saretsky in Chicago, the only child of Rudolph and Jeanette (Block) Saretsky, immigrants from Poland and Lithuania respectively. The family moved in 1895 to Marquette, Michigan, and in 1902 to Benton Harbor, Michigan, where Sarett graduated high school. He attended the University of Michigan (1907-1908), Beloit College (receiving a B.A. in 1911), Harvard Law School (1911-1912) and the University of Illinois Law School (which awarded him an LL.B. in 1916).Guide to the Lew Sarett (1888-1954) Papers, Northwestern University Library, Northwestern University. Web, Nov. 26, 2012. From 1912 to 1920 he taught English and Public Speaking at the University of Illinois. In 1914 he married Margater Husted, who would bear him two children. He also began to write poetry during this time, and published his first collection, Many Many Moons, in 1920. In 1921 he briefly served as an advisory editor of Poetry magazine.Lew R. Sarett 1888-1954, Poetry Foundation, Web, Nov. 26, 2012. In 1920 Sarett transferred to Northwestern University, where he would teach for the next 30 years. In 1925 he moved to the wilderness of Wisconsin, commuting 300 miles to Northwestern to teach for one semester a year. Serving as an adviser on Native affairs for the Department of the Interior, he lived among the Chippewa of the Lake Superior region, who adopted him and gave him the name Lone Caribou. He also worked as a part-time National Parks ranger in Montana and Wyoming, and as a wilderness guide in northern Minnesota and Canada. In addition, he worked as a horticulturist, and produced six new varieties of dahlia. In his time at Northwestern Sarett published five more collections of poetry (three of which had forewords by Carl Sandburg). (Sandburg called Sarett one of America's most perceptive poets.) Sarett also co-authored the college textbook Basic Principles of Speech, which ran through 4 editions between 1936 and 1966, and the secondary-level text, Speech: A High School Course. Margaret Sarett died in 1941. In 1943 Lew Sarett married Juliet Baxter (who died in 1945), and in 1946 he married Alma E. Johnson. In 1950, due to ill health, he took a three-year leave of absence from Northwestern, and retired in 1953 at its end. He died a year later. Recognition Sarett won Poetry magazine's Levinson Prize in 1921, and the annual prize of the Poetry Society of America in 1925. He was made an honorary Doctor of Letters by Baylor University in 1926, and an honorary Doctor of Letters of Humanity by Beloit College in 1946. On his retirement, Northwestern University established the Lew Sarett Chair of Speech. Publications Poetry *''Many Many Moons: A book of wilderness poems. New York: Holt, 1920. * ''The Box of God. New York: Holt, 1922. *''Slow Smoke. New York: Holt, 1925. * ''Wings Against the Moon. New York: Holt, 1931. * Collected Poems (with foreword by Carl Sandburg). New York: Holt, 1941. * Covenant with Earth: A selection from the poetry of Lew Sarett, including six poems not previously published.. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 1966. Non-fiction * Basic Principles of Speech (with William Trufant Foster), Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1936 **(with William Trufant Foster & Alma Johnson Sarett). Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1958. * Speech: A High School Course (with William Trufant Foster & James Howard McBurney). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1943. Edited *''Modern Speeches on Basic Issues'' (with William Trufant Foster). Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1939. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Lew Sarett, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Feb. 3, 2015. See also *List of U.S. poets References External links ;Poems *"October Snow" *Lew R. Sarett 1888-1954 at the Poetry Foundation. *Sarett in Poetry: A magazine of verse, 1912-1922: "The Blue Duck," "Chippewa Flute Song," "Chief Bear's-Heart Makes Talk," "Little Caribou Makes Big Talk," "Broken Bird," "Whistling Wings," "Talking Waters" *Poems by Lew Sarett at Black Cat Poems (13 poems) ;Books *Lew Sarett at Amazon.com ;About *Lew Sarett - Laona's Resident Poet at LaonaHistory.com (poems and news stories, including obituary). ;Etc. * Guide to the Lew Sarett (1888-1954) Papers at Northwestern University. Category:1888 births Category:1954 deaths Category:20th-century poets Category:American poets Category:Beloit College alumni Category:English-language poets Category:Northwestern University faculty Category:People from Chicago, Illinois Category:Poets Category:University of Illinois alumni Category:University of Illinois faculty Category:American academics